Skip down to THE PROBLEM if you don't need the background

Alright so a bit of background.
04 m/t 73k miles no mods. It has low compression as par slow starts and the works. But that is fine because It's under warranty and I'm waiting for Mazda to get my engine in(They're on back order). None the less, once the car is started it idles nicely at ~950 never had any sort of issues with anything but the starting.
Coils and plugs have <10k miles on them.

Tonight I let my friend go for a quick joy ride and my god was he terrible at shifting. So after about 5 minutes of him driving around at 6000 rpms he eventually stalled it while trying to take a turn at 5mph in 3rd gear. So Before I even tried to start it up again I decided to dump a liter of PEAK 5w-20 in it because I was in a hurry last fill up and didn't get the chance. Did the start routine(tried to start 3 times 10 seconds each, failed, 30 seconds with the gas pressed, and the next crank got it started in under 10 seconds) Immediately once it was started I gave it a good few stationary revs to redline to clear everything out, under the impression that was what you were supposed to do(?) All seemed fine, felt a little sluggish but didn't think to much of it.

THE PROBLEM
As we were driving away I gave it a good bit of gas but once it got to about 6500 rpms it felt like it red lined, everything else was unnoticeably different. It just feels like it's red lining at 6500 - 7500 now. Because I was scared shitless I didn't even try and keep it going once i started to lose power I just got off the gas.


What the hell could this be? It passed smog relatively recently, so I want to doubt the cat, when Mazda did their diagnostics for the new engine they detected no miss fires. After the added PEAK oil it is now a mix of 2 different brands but both are a SAE 5w-20

 

what does it matter, everything you describe means engine replacement. and Mazda is already doing that for you (a few weeks of wait time)

just sit back and relax. try not to drive the car too often.

 

:P

I like to hear that. And sounds good to me. Think I should be worried about the cat?

 

73K miles, you still have 7 k left

for CAT(or any emission related component)

its 80K/8 years, whichever comes first.

so you might want to check and see if its 8 years yet.

most of the time dealerships don't want to replace cats cuz they don't get pay that much. but if the CAT is "dead" for *cough*some reason*cough* then they have to replace it under warranty

 

How do I check when my car was built? Where do I run the VIN?

My current idea for emissions(I live in Cali) is that in the next month or so I'm gonna get a race pipe and cat back both for the sound/slight performance and so that I'll never ned to buy a new cat simply because it will only get about 5 miles of use every 2 years when I swap it back for SMOG testing :P

oh and Just out of curiosity what do you think the problem is?

 

it sounds like some coil/plugs issue. so you better get those ready, your dealership might tell ya you need them and wanna charge you an arm and leg for it.

as for the VIN/date thing, just call MNAO up.

 

Why would coils go out that fast?
They were changed at 65k miles

 

no one knows for sure, just a guess.

let them replace your engine first then we will see what happens.

 

Not to worry. The warrantee starts from when the car was first "sold" and titled not when it was built (which is on the tag on the door). Your last Dealer visit should say when warrantee ends on the bill.

For instance. My car was built in 10/03 and sold in 12/03
so my warrantee is thru 12/11. 8 years.

New motor @ 55k in 2010 and new FREE cat $1152 @ 60k in 2011. And the beat goes on I love this car.

 

Oh and if they catch you without a cat it's about $5000 fine. I'd definately reconsider your straight pipe idea. I have a high flow cat that's 48 states "legal", doesn't melt or fracture - cause it's metal instead of clay AND it's LEGAL. Get probably 10 more HP @ 8000k but absolutely nothing at idle in 3rd gear.

Don't train doush bags to drive on a high performance car. Let them learn on a Pinto.

 

If I lived in California I would not even consider going catless, they are pretty serious out there. Most other states I think you would be fine, but theres always a chance of getting caught I guess.

 

How could they possibly catch you going cat-less?
No matter what the rx8 will never be as loud as the last car I was driving(E39 M5 Dinan s2 w/ Dinan L2 exhaust) and I was pulled over plenty of times without any sort of question toward the cat, which... Didn't exist.

And Twisted, I'm a poor college student I can't afford a high flow cat :/
I'm getting money for a 550 hundred dollar exhaust from Turboxs.


And what if I were to a local junk yard, buy a dead cat, strip it and weld it to the outside of my strait pipe? it would all *look* legit.

 

rofl. do you seriously think its hard to know that you have no CAT ?

Anybody with a "working nose" can tell if you have a CAT there or not. Then just "take a look" and boom giving you a ticket.

 

The smell for the most part as nycgps said. Then there are the sniffers on the side of the road in California that look for any cars polluting more than they should, those might trip without a cat?

 

Haha fair enough..
Erg just want the shop to call with my new engine...

 

The local junk yard cannot sell you one or they'd go to jail too. Besides they are too busy selling them for the scrap value of $125. Platinum is about $1600/oz.

Anyhow good luck with the new motor.

 

Twisted, I worked full time my senior year of high school to get this car. I think I deserve it.
And did it take much searching to find a used one? I went through the for sales and didn't find one. Shall I just keep an eye out?

 

I forgot CA gives the first two years of college free? Still? Good job that

You can do a WTB ad yourself and bump it occassionally and keep checking the for sale list at least once per week. Sadly a couple cars/week it seems are getting totalled and parted out. If a bird craps on a car with over 100k it's totalled by insurance co. anymore. If you just want a spare cat that would be worth having too!! $1152 from Dealer new Full Retail.

You might try searching "exhaust" too occassionally as I've seen more than one used Borla, etc. for reasonable prices. Local pickup in CA is common it seems due to long shapes. But that is one long state!!

Time is on your side if you only need emissions every other year.

 

Haha not free. Costs about as much an 8 every year with a scholarship gotta love public colleges. I guess. But ill keep an eye out. And us north californians gotta break off from our southern counter parts. Make it easier on everybody.